Q3. "Why is this important?"

Quality and conformance!

Collaborating on a single testsuite will help raise the quality
bar for all of our independent implementations (and indeed all
implementations). Also, wouldn't it be nice if the libraries all
behaved the same way? The Mauve Project testsuite will help make this
possible.

Q4. "But conformance to which spec?"

Good question! There are a number of them out there: the JLS 1.0
and its "amendments", as well as the different flavors of Java, like
PersonalJava and JavaCard. There are also the various JDK
implementations (1.0, 1.1 and 1.2/2.0) which occasionally vary from
the Java Language Specs in subtle ways. One of the design goals of
the test suite is to support multiple specs. A simple test case tag
scheme is used to identify which specs individual test cases work
against. The tester selects the set of tags they wish to test with
when they run the suite. "JDK1.2", for instance, is one of the current
tags - but the tag system was defined to be flexible and extensible.

Q5. "Why don't you just use Sun's Java Compatibility Kit?"

Sun is not making the JCK freely available to independent
cleanroom implementors.

Q6. "I'm working on a cleanroom implementation here at Yoyodyne, Inc.
Can I use the Mauve Project's testsuite?"

Of course. There are no restrictions on running the testsuite
with your own implementation. However, wouldn't you feel better about
it if you provided some feedback, or even made some test case
contributions?

Q7. "I'm a Sun Licensee. Can I use the Mauve Project's testsuite to test our port?"

Yes. See Q6.

Q8. "I'm Sun. Can I use the Mauve Project's testsuite?"

Sure. See Q6.

Q9. "This all sounds great! How can I help?"

Write test cases! This is an ambitious project, but, fortunately,
test case design is largely a partitionable task. And remember, by
contributing to the Mauve Project, you're actually contributing to
a number of important Free software projects.

Q11. "But what's with the weird name?"

We're an unimaginitive lot. "Mauve" is a color. It seemed about as
good as anything. Coffee puns are getting tired.

Java and all Java-based marks are trademarks or
registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States
and other countries. Red Hat, Transvirtual Technologies
and the Free Software Foundation are independent of Sun
Microsystems, Inc.